Hi Tina, although I have no convertible but it’s always a pleasure to receive and see your footages. Say hello to Mr. Warranty him self! Take care and thanks 🙏
Just a thought. Want to have a new windshield seal on hand when you open that windshield the first time. I think it is going to just crumble into many pieces. A bit of humor. When I saw those wing bolts I thought back to college 50 years ago. A brilliant friend whose name was John strictly went by the name we gave him, Wing Nut.
Yes, I agree 100%, that old brittle seal will be in a million little pieces…I can’t even imagine how it got so bad…Have a great week and thank you! 💗 Wing nut 😂
Great job Tina. Most people claim that lowering and lifting the Model A top is a two-person job, but as you've deftly shown, it can be done quite simply by oneself. A couple of things I do when I drop the top on my '31 deluxe roadster is, loosen the 2 prop knobs on the sides to make the top easier to lift and re-tighten them once the top is completely down to keep it in place, fully folded, without rattling, and undo the rear corner snaps (3 or 4) before lowering the top and tuck the flaps underneath the top as it's folded down. This seems to allow the top to lay flatter on the rear deck (especially important if you plan to use a boot) as well as preventing the rear corner panels from getting badly wrinkled. This is an important consideration if you plan to leave the top down for an extended length of time. It's nice to see you enjoying "Roadie the Roadster" so much. Keep the videos coming, Tina. Thanks.
Good stuff, thank you!! 💕 Paul reminded me that I have a cover for when the top is down, possibly called a boot… I completely forgot, I have a pile of things that came with Roadie, along with tons of stuff Paul keeps bringing home for things we’ll be doing to Roadie, I need to go through the pile that’s growing 😂💗
@@Modeltshinn That is correct, Tina. The "cover for when the top is down" that you describe is commonly known as a "boot". It's kind of a pain in the neck to install and remove when you're only going to have the top down a short time, but for shows and longer open car drives, it really makes the car look nice. Enjoy! 😄
I never had a convertible top vehicle, so this was a lesson for me to learn from. Looked like it was easy to put down a back up. Thanks for the demonstration, I think that Roadie the Roadster is the bee's knee's. Thanks have a great day!
Hi Dan!! Thank you 💕 This is my first convertible! I always wanted a motorcycle for that open air feeling free feeling, Paul has always said no, that someone will run me down…I think he’s right, Roadie is the perfect solution! 😍
@@Modeltshinn I agree with Paul. I had a Honda 350 Scrambler for a few years back in the early 80's. I can tell you I had several close calls, so when my wife was pregnant with our first born, it was time for me to let it go. The Roadie is much cooler anyway!👋
@@Dan-qy1rg you’re a good man to think of your family first 💗💕 I’ve been in 2 huge wrecks, the last one was a high speed head on collision in 2011, I wouldn’t have survived on a motorcycle…
@@Dan-qy1rg thank you 💗 well, at the time I lost about 90% of my memory due to severe brain trauma from head on, today I’m about 50-60% back and a lot of physical issues that I just work with, but I’m alive to tell the story 💕💗
Tell that blue collar-mobile to get outta the way! Princess and her valiant steed are coming through! Ugh! Princess reduced to cleaning the blue collar beast! Have a great week, nice video. It really looks as though you could drop the top from the driver's seat.
Omg, I love this!!! 💗 Someone else mentioned that also, I’m going to try it out from inside…wondering how many positions I’ll need to get into…sitting, knees on the seat…I’ll try it and see 😁
On my 1930 Roadster I use Velcro cable ties to keep the pins on the middle top support in place. They separate and drop down otherwise. Looks like your pins have some sort of sleeve on the pins. Maybe they are to put tension on the frame to keep the pins in place. I suspect I have earlier top irons (28 or 29) on my roadster as the front wing bolts have fine threads. Later model wing nuts have coarse threads. Wood parts also look to be replacements. Also suspect my car was on its side some time in its life requiring the top irons be replaced.
Another awesome video - thank you for taking us along. Still learning all I can about these cars, and just learned some more. God Bless, have a great week ~ Chuck
That is one great car. I actually saw my first ever Model A recently. They are rare in England. Morris was making much cheaper cars by the late 20s. Anyway, it was some hardtop in much faded dull black. Five minutes after that I saw an immaculate Jaguar E-Type in Roadster brown. Not bad for a routine run to the corner store in Nowheresville, Oxfordshire... 🇬🇧👍
@@Modeltshinn Ford started making Model Ts in 1911 in a town near Manchester and they sold a lot. Not much competition. In 1931 they started producing Model As at a new plant in Dagenham, Essex. 20ish miles east of London. But 1932 saw the end of the A, and they made Bs until 1940. Nobody ever seems to talk about the B... (Saw an immaculately restored GMC pickup from the early '50s today driving past my stepson's house in Oxford. The driver and I shared thumbs up). I live right in the middle of England in a very rural area. There are great restored old cars and bikes to be seen most days. (We don't much go for the 'patina' look. Rust is rust, and, as Neil Young said, it never sleeps)... Keep up the good work.. 👍
Hi Tina!: Thanks for showing us how the top folds on Roadie! Looks to be pretty simple. Not too unlike the old MGB Convertible I used to have! It was so fun to drive with the top down!
Another fun little video, thank you! I've never owned a Model A or any convertible or roadster... but the tinkerer/mechanical observer inside me tells me that flap above the windshield should be on the inside of the top of the windshield... Again, I'm not suggesting I know something you don't, it's just what crossed my mind while watching this video.
Great video! Hard to tell, but are all of the screws that attach the thumbscrew fittings to the front bow installed? I look like the front ones may be missing.
Tina, I have a 1931 Roadster. Mine has the wheel in the fenders (Bad idea Henry). I have several questions for you and Paul. How do you get the spare tire out of the fender well? My car has been sitting for years but it does run and drive. My top is very stiff, what should I use to lubricate the bars? I really love your videos. Thank you. Robert B. From Texas
Robert B., I have a Roadster with side mount spares, too. Some replacement tires are wider than the original fender wells. Also, if the tires haven’t been removed in a while they my be even tighter. Another source of friction can be spare tire covers, either vinyl or canvas. First step after removing the lug nuts from the side mount plate is to open the tire valves and remove the air. If you’re lucky (I wasn’t) you’ll be able to rock the tire and wheel side to side while lifting. When I did this it took enormous effort until I realized the plate was fouling the wheel or the tire sidewall. The lugs were attached to the plate and the wheel wouldn’t clear the lugs without the plate hitting the wheel or the tire sidewall. Next step if needed: pop off the spare tire’s hubcap. In the center of the hub there is a large nut. If it’s a castle nut with a cotter pin (aka cotter key) bend the pin straight and remove it. Then remove the nut. The nut holds the plate to the long bracket which mounts the whole thing to the car’s frame. The plate has a rectangular slot which allows the plate to move slightly back and up. Once loosened this extra clearance should be enough to get the tire/ wheel out. On mine it was still a struggle. However, there is one more thing you can do to make it easier: once the wheel/tire is off the car, remove the plate from the bracket. The lugs (like carriage bolts, they have rounded heads) fit tight into the plate. You want to make the lugs removable so you can just slip them out to remove the wheel. The lugs / carriage bolts have squared off shanks where they go through the plate. This keeps them from spinning around when you’re tightening and loosening the lug nuts. Okay, lay each plate down with the lugs sticking up and place a piece of wood underneath so one lug isn’t resting on the workbench or ground or whatever surface you’re using. Thread a nut onto that lug and pound the nut with a big hammer to force the lug to back out of the plate. Don’t just hammer on the lug itself or the threads may be damaged. If you or your Model A Club has a hydraulic press, so much the better. The square hole in the plate may have some soft metal (tin?) squeezed in it to keep the lug hard in place. Use a screwdriver and hammer to work that soft metal out of the square hole. Then look at the lug/carriage bolt: it may have some of that same soft metal stuck to it too. File it off until you hit the hard steel on both the lug and the plate. Duplicate this operation for the other two lugs. Going forward, to remove the wheel/tire you remove the hubcap, reach in and remove the big bolt so the plate is free from the bracket, remove each lug nut and remove the now-free the lugs from the plate. A little anti-seize copper grease on all the fittings will keep it from sticking together. I hope that helps! I actually left off the right hand side spare for a few weeks while I was working on the carb and timing, etc so I didn’t have to lean over the darn tire. When I drove the car like that several people thought the bracket was a crank for starting the engine. If you haven’t already done so, I highly recommend you join your local Model A club, the national club they’re affiliated with (great magazines) and log into FordBarn for all the helpful hints, hacks, workarounds, spare parts, advice, and all the huge debates over minutiae. Good luck! David From San Antonio.
Hi Robert! Great questions! I’ll tell you what, next week or the following week I’ll have Paul help me show how it’s done in a video! We’ve done it on Gandalf and other A’s, the look is cool, but yes a little difficult to get off sometimes, especially if you’ve never seen it done before. Do you belong to a Model A club? Hopefully there’s one close enough to you, it’s so beneficial 💕 We haven’t had much luck with sites like Ford barn, there are nice people there, but some can be very rude, not answer the question you asked and ramble about something else or answer as if your a dork for not already knowing…so if you go into that site or others like it, have tough skin going in…just an observation from many times. Paul started an email where you can ask questions that are answered by Paul and about 5-6 other highly skilled and knowledgeable Model A people, modelatechquestions@gmail.com
That was a bit of a job. A few years ago I sold a convertible Mustang to a friend for his daughter to drive. I've seen her on the road many times and never once with the top down. Of course, she just needs to unlatch in and push a button. I'm sure she'd have never driven a Model A with the top down.
I don’t know…this is the first convertible I’ve owned, I do like that it screws because I know it’s in place well…a spring, I don’t know if suddenly it would spring while driving lol
My sense is if you have a robust spring and pin installed and it released during a drive, you and Roadie would have more serious complications to cause concern than a floppy soft top! 👀🙈
Hi Tina, although I have no convertible but it’s always a pleasure to receive and see your footages. Say hello to Mr. Warranty him self! Take care and thanks 🙏
Thank you so much Myron! 💗💕
Nice Job, enjoy the nice summer weather.
Thank you 💕 It’s been really hot for 2-3 weeks now, in the 100’s, getting old now lol this is why the late eve video 😁
What a gem Roadie the Roadster is, thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much 💗
Tina, it looks like you could do this operation from inside the roadster.
I haven’t tried that yet, thanks, it sounds easier…💗
That’s how I do it, but then again my convertible is smaller than a Model A.
Just a thought. Want to have a new windshield seal on hand when you open that windshield the first time. I think it is going to just crumble into many pieces. A bit of humor. When I saw those wing bolts I thought back to college 50 years ago. A brilliant friend whose name was John strictly went by the name we gave him, Wing Nut.
Yes, I agree 100%, that old brittle seal will be in a million little pieces…I can’t even imagine how it got so bad…Have a great week and thank you! 💗 Wing nut 😂
These cars were so nicely built. Looking forward to when you guys replace that toasted weatherstripping under the windshield 😂
Yes definitely 💕 Thank you so much, have a great week!
Your turning into a top model A er 😂 great job!
lol, thanks Matthew 💗💕
You want to drive topless in a 1929 Ford Model A Roadster?? You naughty girl. I'm tellin' Paul. Lol
😁😂😂😂 play on words is fun!!!
What, you don't push a button to make the top go down? 😀😆😁 I sure can see why; you guys love these cars. Looks super fun. Thank You.
Lol, no buttons to push here 🤣 Thank you! Have a great week!
Great job Tina. Most people claim that lowering and lifting the Model A top is a two-person job, but as you've deftly shown, it can be done quite simply by oneself.
A couple of things I do when I drop the top on my '31 deluxe roadster is, loosen the 2 prop knobs on the sides to make the top easier to lift and re-tighten them once the top is completely down to keep it in place, fully folded, without rattling, and undo the rear corner snaps (3 or 4) before lowering the top and tuck the flaps underneath the top as it's folded down. This seems to allow the top to lay flatter on the rear deck (especially important if you plan to use a boot) as well as preventing the rear corner panels from getting badly wrinkled. This is an important consideration if you plan to leave the top down for an extended length of time.
It's nice to see you enjoying "Roadie the Roadster" so much. Keep the videos coming, Tina. Thanks.
Good stuff, thank you!! 💕 Paul reminded me that I have a cover for when the top is down, possibly called a boot… I completely forgot, I have a pile of things that came with Roadie, along with tons of stuff Paul keeps bringing home for things we’ll be doing to Roadie, I need to go through the pile that’s growing 😂💗
@@Modeltshinn That is correct, Tina. The "cover for when the top is down" that you describe is commonly known as a "boot". It's kind of a pain in the neck to install and remove when you're only going to have the top down a short time, but for shows and longer open car drives, it really makes the car look nice. Enjoy! 😄
I never had a convertible top vehicle, so this was a lesson for me to learn from. Looked like it was easy to put down a back up. Thanks for the demonstration, I think that Roadie the Roadster is the bee's knee's. Thanks have a great day!
Hi Dan!! Thank you 💕 This is my first convertible! I always wanted a motorcycle for that open air feeling free feeling, Paul has always said no, that someone will run me down…I think he’s right, Roadie is the perfect solution! 😍
@@Modeltshinn I agree with Paul. I had a Honda 350 Scrambler for a few years back in the early 80's. I can tell you I had several close calls, so when my wife was pregnant with our first born, it was time for me to let it go. The Roadie is much cooler anyway!👋
@@Dan-qy1rg you’re a good man to think of your family first 💗💕 I’ve been in 2 huge wrecks, the last one was a high speed head on collision in 2011, I wouldn’t have survived on a motorcycle…
@@Modeltshinn Oh my, I'm so sorry to hear about your accidents, hopefully there are not any lingering problems from them!🙏
@@Dan-qy1rg thank you 💗 well, at the time I lost about 90% of my memory due to severe brain trauma from head on, today I’m about 50-60% back and a lot of physical issues that I just work with, but I’m alive to tell the story 💕💗
Tell that blue collar-mobile to get outta the way! Princess and her valiant steed are coming through!
Ugh! Princess reduced to cleaning the blue collar beast!
Have a great week, nice video. It really looks as though you could drop the top from the driver's seat.
Omg, I love this!!! 💗
Someone else mentioned that also, I’m going to try it out from inside…wondering how many positions I’ll need to get into…sitting, knees on the seat…I’ll try it and see 😁
As you know, I'm down here in Florida. My first job was at an orange 🧡 juice factory. They canned me! It seems that I could not concentrate!
@@williamforbes5826 omg 🤣😂 love it!
You can also fold the windshield on the 30-31 models.
On my 1930 Roadster I use Velcro cable ties to keep the pins on the middle top support in place. They separate and drop down otherwise. Looks like your pins have some sort of sleeve on the pins. Maybe they are to put tension on the frame to keep the pins in place.
I suspect I have earlier top irons (28 or 29) on my roadster as the front wing bolts have fine threads. Later model wing nuts have coarse threads. Wood parts also look to be replacements. Also suspect my car was on its side some time in its life requiring the top irons be replaced.
Another awesome video - thank you for taking us along. Still learning all I can about these cars, and just learned some more. God Bless, have a great week ~ Chuck
Thank you so much Chuck, God bless you and have a beautiful week! 💗
That is one great car. I actually saw my first ever Model A recently. They are rare in England. Morris was making much cheaper cars by the late 20s. Anyway, it was some hardtop in much faded dull black. Five minutes after that I saw an immaculate Jaguar E-Type in Roadster brown. Not bad for a routine run to the corner store in Nowheresville, Oxfordshire... 🇬🇧👍
Wow, I didn’t realize that, it’s amazing to me that this is a first for you! I just assumed they’re everywhere. Thank you for sharing 💗
@@Modeltshinn Ford started making Model Ts in 1911 in a town near Manchester and they sold a lot. Not much competition. In 1931 they started producing Model As at a new plant in Dagenham, Essex. 20ish miles east of London. But 1932 saw the end of the A, and they made Bs until 1940. Nobody ever seems to talk about the B... (Saw an immaculately restored GMC pickup from the early '50s today driving past my stepson's house in Oxford. The driver and I shared thumbs up). I live right in the middle of England in a very rural area. There are great restored old cars and bikes to be seen most days. (We don't much go for the 'patina' look. Rust is rust, and, as Neil Young said, it never sleeps)... Keep up the good work.. 👍
Hi Tina!: Thanks for showing us how the top folds on Roadie! Looks to be pretty simple. Not too unlike the old MGB Convertible I used to have! It was so fun to drive with the top down!
Thank you 💗 Oh wow, I use to want one of those MGB convertibles SO bad when I was growing up!!! Bet that was fun!
Parabéns aqui do Brasil , simpatia sempre.
Another fun little video, thank you!
I've never owned a Model A or any convertible or roadster... but the tinkerer/mechanical observer inside me tells me that flap above the windshield should be on the inside of the top of the windshield... Again, I'm not suggesting I know something you don't, it's just what crossed my mind while watching this video.
Might want some of the lube Paul uses on distributer to put on your tops corners!
Sounds good, ya too stiff, so much to do to Roadie lol, thanks! 💕
Paul couldn't have done any better on the gift. Or the Lady! Enjoy
That’s so sweet Gary 💗💕 Thank you, have a great week!
Great video! Hard to tell, but are all of the screws that attach the thumbscrew fittings to the front bow installed? I look like the front ones may be missing.
You are sooo naughty - and I love it! LOL tx for the vid
😂 thank for watching! Have a great weekend!
Muy bueno, gracias por estar la opcion de traducción,por favor que también la tenga el canal de Paul,saludos desde Argentina
Gracias
Tina, I have a 1931 Roadster. Mine has the wheel in the fenders (Bad idea Henry). I have several questions for you and Paul. How do you get the spare tire out of the fender well? My car has been sitting for years but it does run and drive. My top is very stiff, what should I use to lubricate the bars? I really love your videos. Thank you. Robert B. From Texas
Robert B., I have a Roadster with side mount spares, too. Some replacement tires are wider than the original fender wells. Also, if the tires haven’t been removed in a while they my be even tighter. Another source of friction can be spare tire covers, either vinyl or canvas. First step after removing the lug nuts from the side mount plate is to open the tire valves and remove the air. If you’re lucky (I wasn’t) you’ll be able to rock the tire and wheel side to side while lifting. When I did this it took enormous effort until I realized the plate was fouling the wheel or the tire sidewall. The lugs were attached to the plate and the wheel wouldn’t clear the lugs without the plate hitting the wheel or the tire sidewall. Next step if needed: pop off the spare tire’s hubcap. In the center of the hub there is a large nut. If it’s a castle nut with a cotter pin (aka cotter key) bend the pin straight and remove it. Then remove the nut. The nut holds the plate to the long bracket which mounts the whole thing to the car’s frame. The plate has a rectangular slot which allows the plate to move slightly back and up. Once loosened this extra clearance should be enough to get the tire/ wheel out. On mine it was still a struggle. However, there is one more thing you can do to make it easier: once the wheel/tire is off the car, remove the plate from the bracket. The lugs (like carriage bolts, they have rounded heads) fit tight into the plate. You want to make the lugs removable so you can just slip them out to remove the wheel. The lugs / carriage bolts have squared off shanks where they go through the plate. This keeps them from spinning around when you’re tightening and loosening the lug nuts. Okay, lay each plate down with the lugs sticking up and place a piece of wood underneath so one lug isn’t resting on the workbench or ground or whatever surface you’re using. Thread a nut onto that lug and pound the nut with a big hammer to force the lug to back out of the plate. Don’t just hammer on the lug itself or the threads may be damaged. If you or your Model A Club has a hydraulic press, so much the better. The square hole in the plate may have some soft metal (tin?) squeezed in it to keep the lug hard in place. Use a screwdriver and hammer to work that soft metal out of the square hole. Then look at the lug/carriage bolt: it may have some of that same soft metal stuck to it too. File it off until you hit the hard steel on both the lug and the plate. Duplicate this operation for the other two lugs. Going forward, to remove the wheel/tire you remove the hubcap, reach in and remove the big bolt so the plate is free from the bracket, remove each lug nut and remove the now-free the lugs from the plate. A little anti-seize copper grease on all the fittings will keep it from sticking together.
I hope that helps!
I actually left off the right hand side spare for a few weeks while I was working on the carb and timing, etc so I didn’t have to lean over the darn tire. When I drove the car like that several people thought the bracket was a crank for starting the engine.
If you haven’t already done so, I highly recommend you join your local Model A club, the national club they’re affiliated with (great magazines) and log into FordBarn for all the helpful hints, hacks, workarounds, spare parts, advice, and all the huge debates over minutiae.
Good luck! David From San Antonio.
Hi Robert! Great questions! I’ll tell you what, next week or the following week I’ll have Paul help me show how it’s done in a video! We’ve done it on Gandalf and other A’s, the look is cool, but yes a little difficult to get off sometimes, especially if you’ve never seen it done before. Do you belong to a Model A club? Hopefully there’s one close enough to you, it’s so beneficial 💕 We haven’t had much luck with sites like Ford barn, there are nice people there, but some can be very rude, not answer the question you asked and ramble about something else or answer as if your a dork for not already knowing…so if you go into that site or others like it, have tough skin going in…just an observation from many times. Paul started an email where you can ask questions that are answered by Paul and about 5-6 other highly skilled and knowledgeable Model A people, modelatechquestions@gmail.com
Great video on taking the top down. Are there top snaps that go across the headliner to further secure the top?
Great Demo Model T
But im dissapointed no driveing A topless Roadie !
maby some outher time ?
Thank you! Nope, I planned to finish with an evening drive, but Paul didn’t know lol
That was a bit of a job. A few years ago I sold a convertible Mustang to a friend for his daughter to drive. I've seen her on the road many times and never once with the top down. Of course, she just needs to unlatch in and push a button. I'm sure she'd have never driven a Model A with the top down.
Oh gosh, I wonder if she’s one of those gals that don’t want to mess up their hair 😂
Are all the convertible tops steel framed like Roadey or do some of them have wooden bows?
With one small difference the same as my TR6.
That’s cool! So not too much change for other vehicles…it seems to be strong and holds well 😄
@@Modeltshinn the only difference is the posts are on the top instead of the body.
@@56Spookdog that’s interesting…thanks for sharing!!
I hope you don't get arrested for driving topless.
😂😂😂
Wouldn’t be nice to have a spring-loaded pin to release the corners rather than the threaded wing bolts? ❤
I don’t know…this is the first convertible I’ve owned, I do like that it screws because I know it’s in place well…a spring, I don’t know if suddenly it would spring while driving lol
My sense is if you have a robust spring and pin installed and it released during a drive, you and Roadie would have more serious complications to cause concern than a floppy soft top! 👀🙈